Julie Bishop applauds deepening military ties

Updated
November 17, 2011 14:06:11

Deputy Opposition Leader and Opposition spokesman for foreign affairs and trade Julie Bishop says today's announcement of greater US military activities in Australia is one all Australia should welcome.

STEVE CANNANE, PRESENTER: In Canberra, I'm joined by the Deputy Opposition Leader and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Julie Bishop.

Julie Bishop, thanks for talking to us.

JULIE BISHOP, DEPUTY OPPOSITION LEADER: Good evening.

STEVE CANNANE: What's your reaction to the announcement this afternoon that there'll soon be 2,500 strong marine taskforce on Australian soil and also that our air bases will be used increasingly by US Air Force?

JULIE BISHOP: We welcome this announcement. Over the past decade, particularly since September 11, the security and intelligence co-operation between Australia and the United States has strengthened and now this enhanced military access to our Defence bases completes that intense and deepening of our relationship. And I believe it is in Australia's national interest, it will certainly enhance our security position and it will build capacity in Australia.

Also, it will provide the countries in the region with the support from the United States that they are seeking. I find that countries in our region are seeking more United States engagement not less.

And so overall, I think it's an extremely good announcement. It's been some time in the pipeline. The negotiations began some time ago and I think it's appropriate, it's fitting that the announcement should be made during president Obama's visit that coincides with the 60th anniversary of the formalisation of our alliance with the ANZUS treaty.

STEVE CANNANE: Is there anything about the announcement you're uncomfortable with?

JULIE BISHOP: No. I think it is an extremely good outcome for Australia that we will have enhanced military access from the United States. It will mean that up to 2,500 marines will rotate on a permanent basis through Darwin. I think it will be good for the local economy and most certainly all Australians should welcome this announcement.

STEVE CANNANE: China, India and Indonesia were all briefed about this announcement beforehand. What does that say about the sensitivities around this announcement and how it might be received in Asia?

JULIE BISHOP: It's highly appropriate that we should inform our neighbours of the proposed announcement. It can have an impact on their activities and it's appropriate that we should do so. I don't think it will come as any surprise to China, India or Indonesia that Australia and the United States are allies and that we're seeking to strengthen and deepen our strategic and defence ties.

STEVE CANNANE: China certainly hasn't welcomed the announcement. They said it may not be appropriate for the United States and Australia to contribute to a military build-up in the region. Are you worried it could increase tensions with China?

JULIE BISHOP: I don't believe it will. I don't believe that the United States is seeking to contain China with this announcement or with any other announcements in recent days. There's been some speculation that the Trans-Pacific Partnership announcement excluded China.

I don't read it that way at all. In fact I think in relation to the TPP, the United States is looking to put together a group of countries that will form a free trade bloc in our region. It will set a high benchmark and hopefully it will encourage other countries to join in, and that would include China.

STEVE CANNANE: But is there a danger that by helping the US get a foothold in the Asia Pacific region, we could be seen in that same region as turning our backs on the region?

JULIE BISHOP: Well we're hardly helping the United States get a foothold. The United States has been in the Asia-Pacific region since the Second World War. What this visit is signifying is that the United States intends to remain engaged in the Asia-Pacific, and indeed this visit to Australia is part of an Asian tour by president Obama.

He will be attending the East Asia Summit in Bali shortly. He'll be the first United States president to do so because the United States has just joined that forum. So it's part of a message from the United States that they intend to remain deeply engaged in the Asia-Pacific. It is an important region for them. Indeed, the president said it was one of his highest priorities.

STEVE CANNANE: OK. If we look down the track and if there's a potential military crisis in the region and Australia takes a different view about that crisis to the US, does this agreement potentially make it harder for Australia to assert its independence?

JULIE BISHOP: We currently have joint facilities with the United States, we carry out joint military exercises, we welcome the United States ships to our shores. We have had a deepening of our security and intelligence co-operation, particularly over the last 10 years. So, this is what's happening currently. The announcement today is an enhancement of that, but it doesn't change matters in that regard.

STEVE CANNANE: OK. Barack Obama spoke more tonight about his plans to revive the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a free trade bloc, that would pursue zero tariffs amongst those nine member nations. Does the Coalition support that goal?

JULIE BISHOP: Yes, we certainly do. We support the Trans-Pacific Partnership and we support a high quality comprehensive free trade agreement. Since the Doha multilateral round stalled, and there's been no appreciable progress for some time, we think it's important that nations continue to pursue opportunities to bolster international trade and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which was an initiative begun under the Bush Administration, is an opportunity to bring together countries in our region and to finalise a high quality trade agreement that sets high benchmarks, and so we certainly support that.

STEVE CANNANE: And do you support that goal of zero tariffs within 12 months?

JULIE BISHOP: The timeframe is a little unclear. I don't know that it's actually within 12 months. They are proposing that progress be made, but I'm not sure that it would be completed in 12 months. I think it's more important to get it right, to set the right benchmarks and to encourage other countries to join.

Now, currently it's an interesting group of countries; as well as Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Peru, Vietnam - an interesting group of countries. Japan has shown its interest in joining in with the United States, as has Canada and Mexico.

Now, ideally the entire APEC economies would become a free trade agreement. That would be an ultimate goal. But in the meantime, before the APEC economies form a free trade bloc, we should support the US initiative to form a smaller trading bloc and hope that other countries will come on board.

STEVE CANNANE: While you sound very supportive of it, the Nationals don't seem like they're on board. Warren Truss dismissed it as a thought bubble that will go nowhere.

JULIE BISHOP: Well it is Coalition policy to support the Trans-Pacific Partnership and I am certainly reflecting Coalition policy.

STEVE CANNANE: And have you reminded Warren Truss of that?

JULIE BISHOP: I don't think I have to remind Warren of what's Coalition policy. But we are certainly a party that supports free trade and we want to see more opportunities for Australian exporters to get into these markets that are emerging in our region, and it means more export dollars in Australia, it means more jobs.

STEVE CANNANE: Economically, what is in it for Australia to be part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership given that we already have free trade agreements with four of the other eight nations who are part of the TPP?

JULIE BISHOP: We're hoping that the TPP won't just stop at nine nations; we're hoping that it will expand to other economies in the region, and if Japan comes on board, as it has indicated that it would, well then that would add significant weight to the agreement.

We have a number of outstanding free trade agreement negotiations with a number of countries and hopefully the TPP could provide the impetus for those free trade agreements.

The benefit for Australia will be access to the huge and growing consumer market in the Asia-Pacific region. There are some estimates that by 2020 there will be an additional 1.2 billion people in the middle class of China, India, Indonesia and that makes for a huge consumer market in our region.

STEVE CANNANE: But those countries haven't signed up to the TPP yet.

JULIE BISHOP: But they are all countries that we hope will come on board.

But of course there are other economies that are so important to Australia; Singapore, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, these countries, not all of them are part of the TPP at present, but hopefully they'll come on board and I'm sure the United States will be encouraging other South American countries, and as I said, if Canada, Mexico, Japan come on board, then that is a significant trading bloc that presents great opportunities for Australian exporters.

STEVE CANNANE: How much is the Trans-Pacific Partnership about changing the way China's economy works, creating this Asia-Pacific free trading group with incentives for China to join, but only if they reform their intellectual property laws, if they change the way they peg their currency and also open their markets up a bit more?

JULIE BISHOP: But it would be the same for any country wishing to accede to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And that's why I think the United States is leading the way in setting a high benchmark for this trade agreement, the kind of benchmark that we would like to see in the bilateral free trade agreements that Australia signs. And so ...

STEVE CANNANE: But I'm wondering how much you think the US is using this as a way of changing China's behaviour.

JULIE BISHOP: Well I don't read it that way. But if China were to come on board, if China wishes to be part of this trading bloc, then it would have to abide by the rules. And it is an opportunity for countries like Japan and China to influence the rules in competition, investment and trade in our region.

STEVE CANNANE: Barack Obama again today had some very strong words to say about China, saying they need to rethink some of its approaches to trade, and he's talking there about - in particular about its undervaluing of their currency and also intellectual property issues. Do you agree with Barack Obama on that?

JULIE BISHOP: I certainly understand his concerns about intellectual property. That's often an issue in trade agreements, and we would certainly hope that in our negotiations for a free trade agreement with China - because you must remember that we have negotiations on foot with China and a number of other countries that were begun back in 2005 and we've made little progress, I must say.

Labor doesn't seem to have progressed the free trade agreement with China at all and that's surprising given New Zealand has managed to sign a free trade agreement with China even though they started at the same time as Australia.

But, issues of intellectual property of course come up in all free trade agreements and particularly with China. So we would hope that in our negotiations and if they were to be part of the TPP that China would embrace the global rules base on intellectual property rights. Likewise in relation ...

STEVE CANNANE: And do you agree that they're undervaluing their currency and that they need to do something about it?

JULIE BISHOP: The issue of the currency is a different matter altogether. I mean, China is not the only country that has a fixed exchange. Australia does not, but we did at one point. We obviously believe it's beneficial for our economy to have a floating exchange rate, and China has not made that decision, and that is a matter for China.

But if China were to join the TPP and if the TPP sets the high benchmarks that the United States is suggesting, then there will be a number of conditions that will need to be met, as would be the case ...

STEVE CANNANE: And one of them would be about valuing their currency, wouldn't it?

JULIE BISHOP: Well, this is to be seen. Everything's on the table, as I understand it. But, take Japan, for example. There will be some difficult issues for Japan to grapple with because agriculture is such a sensitive domestic political issue for Japan, so any country coming in to an arrangement like the TPP will have some give and take and they'll have to meet the agreed rules of the forum.

STEVE CANNANE: Tomorrow, yourself and Tony Abbott will be meeting with Barack Obama. What kind of issues will you be talking with him - talking about?

JULIE BISHOP: Presumably we'll be talking about the issues including the announcement of the enhanced military access and the visit to Darwin and there'll be a number of issues we want to raise in relation to that matter. Afghanistan.

Tony Abbott has just returned from a visit to Afghanistan and will take the opportunity to talk to the president about that and about the United States' plans in that regard. And we will obviously also talk about the Asia-Pacific and the United States' engagement in the Asia-Pacific.

And I hope to raise some other issues including what's happening in the Middle East, Iran and some of the other countries that are in somewhat of a tumultuous state in the Middle East.

STEVE CANNANE: Will you be raising the issue of where Barack Obama is going with his former plans of a cap and trade system?

JULIE BISHOP: Well, the president was asked a question at the press conference this afternoon in relation to that. He certainly didn't make any comment about the Australian situation other than to describe it as bold.

But he made it quite clear that each country will address the issue in their own way. He made it clear that it would be difficult to get a global agreement, particularly if China is not on board. So he made the position of the United States quite clear.

STEVE CANNANE: Your colleague Greg Hunt had some free advice in Op Ed piece today for Julia Gillard saying that should ask - Julia Gillard should ask a question of president Obama of whether the US would have a price on carbon by 2016 and that if he didn't ask that question - sorry, if she didn't ask that question, Julia Gillard would be a coward. Will you be asking that question of Barack Obama tomorrow?

JULIE BISHOP: Well the president was asked the question today, essentially, in a press conference, so we have to thank one of the journalists from the press gallery for asking the president.

STEVE CANNANE: But he avoided that question.

JULIE BISHOP: Well, if I ask the president questions tomorrow in a confidential meeting, they'll remain confidential.

STEVE CANNANE: Julie Bishop, we'll have to leave it there. Thanks very much for talking to us.